5 plants to grow for beginners

Having a full time job means most weekends are spent at home and some on the road. Most of my time at home I spend with my family, dogs, and my hobbies.

Gardening is one of the many hobbies I have enjoyed doing. Over the past months of tending my patch, I realized that living in the city is not an obstacle for anyone to grow their own garden , especially for someone like me who grow veggies in containers.

Let me give you 5 plants you can easily grow in your little backyard:

1. Peppers

Peppers are easy-to-grow garden plants. Seeds are widely available in gardening stores and supermarkets. You may also opt to use the pepper seeds from your kitchen and just throw them in the soil or containers and voila, after a week you will see seedlings sprout.

Maintenance is very low. As long as there are water, sun, and good drainage, your peppers will surely blossom and fruit.

To boost your plant, you may also try giving its soil some food. Try Epsom salt that is rich in magnesium, or you can also try making your own organic compost tea with just your kitchen scraps.

2. Basil

A fact unknown to many, these wonderful-smelling plants is one of the easiest herbs to grow. You can always start with seeds but you can also skip and go to seedlings right away.

Basil is readily available in gardening stores, and now you can get it from grocery stores such as Market Place by Rustans and select SM grocery stores.

Basil loves the sun. As long as there is enough sun and well-drained soil, your basil will surely provide abundantly.

Just a tip: Water them at the base and don’t forget to pinch the leaves from the top to encourage growth.

3. Cucumber

Cucumber loves water. You can plant your cucumber in a container at least 10 inches deep with good drainage.

Most of the varieties of cucumber are disease-tolerant and do not require too much fertilizer. But if you want to give your cucumber some tender, loving care (henceforth called TLC), organic compost and tomato fertilizers will surely boost its production.

4. Tomatoes

Did you know that you can plant tomatoes out of kitchen slices? And the good news is, it doesn’t take long before they sprout.

Tomatoes are easy to grow but like any other plants, tomatoes love TLC. They love to be fed and soaked in full sun for at least 6 hours. Don’t forget to water them as well.

To give your tomatoes a boost, try giving them some Epsom salt, which is available in health stores, or you can also try spikes of Jobees that are available in your local gardening store.

5. Lettuce

Another fact unknown to many: you can actually grow lettuce here in Metro Manila. Yes, you heard it right. Lettuce are common produce of low-temperature areas, but with proper care, you can grow your own bowl of mixed greens and harvest them in no time.

I tried some seeds from a local gardening store and sprinkled some in a container filled with potting mix. Within 2 weeks, be sure to thin you baby lettuces, and say hello to your first harvest.

Lettuce loves the shade and they only require about 2-4 hours of direct sunlight. Otherwise they will bolt and taste bitter eventually. So it’s very important to plant them in an area not directly hit by the sun. Lettuce does not require too much watering; just keep their soil moist.

If you want to check out other veggies that I’m growing, just head out to my Instagram account @foragingalien and follow my adventure from gardening to foraging of wild edibles and musings of interesting plants from different places.

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